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Courses Harvard Syllabus

Harvard. Agricultural Economics, Carver 1917

Thomas Nixon Carver covered quite a lot of beachfront in the Harvard economics curriculum for the first three decades of the twentieth century. His courses ranged from economic theory, sociology, social reform through the economics of agriculture, today’s post. His autobiography, Recollections of an Unplanned Life (1949) can be read online at Hathitrust.org. Before there were conservative think tanks, Thomas Nixon Carver was an academic scribbler from whom organizations like the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and politicians from Orange County, California distilled their frenzy.

Addition:  a course description along with the final examination questions collected during my  2017 archival visits to the Library of Congress and Harvard University archives.

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Course Announcement

[Economics] 9 1hf. Economics of Agriculture

Half-course (first half-year). Mon., Wed., and (and the pleasure of the instructor) Fri., at 10. Professor Carvers, assisted by Mr. —.

Source: Provisional Announcement of the Courses of Instruction offered by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 19718-18. Official Register of Harvard University, Vol. XIV, No. 4 (February 10, 1917), p. 99.

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Enrollment

[Economics] 9 1hf. Professor Carver.—Economics of Agriculture.

Total 13: 5 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 3 others

 

Source: Harvard University. Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1917-1918, p. 54.

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[The reading assignments of the course “Economics of Agriculture” (1917-1918) come from the following three publications by Thomas Nixon Carver:

Principles of Rural Economics. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1911.

Selected Readings in Rural Economics. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1916.

“The Organization of a Rural Community” published in the Yearbook of United States Department of Agriculture for 1914. Washington, D.C., 1915.pp. 89-138.]

ECONOMICS 9
1917-18

  1. Place of rural economics in the general scheme of Economics.
  2. General conditions of agricultural properity.

Principles. Chap. 1.
Selected Readings. Pages 1-31.

  1. Agricultural development in Europe.

Principles. Pages 29-63.
Selected Readings. Pages 151-253.

  1. Agricultural development in the United States.

Principles. Pages 63-116.
Selected Readings. Pages 254-351.

  1. The problems of land tenure.

Selected Readings. Pages 352-486.

  1. Tenancy and agricultural labor in the United States.

Selected Readings. Pages 487-574.

  1. The factors of agricultural production.

Principles. Chap. 3.

  1. Problems of farm management.

Principles. Chap. 4.
Selected Readings. Pages 575-644.

  1. Agricultural discontent.

Principles. Chap. 5.
Selected Readings. Pages 645-763.

  1. The marketing of farm products.

Selected Readings. Pages 764-897.

  1. Agricultural credit.

Selected Readings. Pages 936-970.

  1. The organization of rural life

Carver, The Organization of a Rural Community.

  1. National and state agricultural policies.

Selected Readings. Pages 898-935.

  1. Present tendencies and opportunities in agriculture.

Selected Readings. Pages 32-150.

 

Source: Harvard University Archives. Syllabi, course outlines and reading lists in Economics, 1895-2003 (HUC 8522.2.1) Box 1, Folder “Economics, 1917-1918”.

Image Source: Harvard Album 1915.